AnotherPurl :: a knitter's life

it's all hallows eve eve!

Sometimes I drop sleep off the schedule.  Boot!  Off the island with you!

The past few days are definitely one of those times.  Last night I made cake with a lemon-buttermilk cream frosting, inspired by the lemon buttermilk sherbet from The Perfect Scoop.  I also found my extra fabric from my houppelande... the houppelande I made for the Gods and Goddesses ball at Wellesley in 1996.  The houppelande is still in remarkably good condition, having been worn for events, sleeping (being huge and warm) and other costuming.  The fact that I've moved the extra fabric from Wellesley to Somerville to Malden (and back) to Braintree to Quincy is a sign that I apparently never throw anything away.  At all.

The extra fabric has become a hat to go along with the houppelande.  I finished sewing the bits and pieces to transform the houppelande from a piece of my SCA garb to more generic costuming.  Vivat! Vivat! Vivat!

I feel like I've become this strange cooking, sewing and knitting machine.  Now if only I had the time to work on my icord project (7+ yards of icord and counting).

wet wool

Ishbel is blocking behind me.  It's a good feeling seeing it there (even if it is completely unphotographable - a red shawl on a red blanket is not very eye catching).  I don't have enough pins to block out each point, and I could really use a set of blocking wires.  My top edge is not exactly straight.  The shawl takes up the entire top edge of the throw blanket, so I'm glad to have made the large size and gladder that I am not trying to block it any bigger.

Instead, I'm spending my morning playing Kingdom of Loathing (which I haven't consistently done in a while) and pulling together a small amount of sewing stuff to finish up the necklace today.  I am in prototype creation land, and am trying to come up with a sphere pattern that looks interesting, knits up large enough, that I can stuff some of the dog squeakers I have.  Instead, I appear to have created a mouse, currently sans ears, with a pocket for putting catnip in.  Not bad for never having made anything other than scarves without a pattern.

Tonight is baking night, and picking up fabric.  This weekend I start sewing costumes for the Mikado.  It's a good thing I am not currently in training for a half marathon, because I am totally eating into my running time.  It's only for a month or so, but it is a good feeling to help.

finishing party

Oh, a pretty sky!  This is from walking to the train station this morning.  The camera did something funky, because I don't remember it being quite that red!

I still need to work on creating a good blocking space.  I have a scarf (well, two scarves actually), a shawl, a necklace, and a few other things that need blocking magic.  I keep putting it off, because I am currently blocking on a blanket on a hard wood floor.  One of the nice things about our condo was that it was easy to pin blocking items through a towel or fleece blanket into the carpet.  It felt secure, especially for things like shawls which require a firmer hand in the blocking if you want the points and other details to show.

Last night instead of blocking, I did market research on Etsy (can you see the air quotes?).  I mostly looked at items for sale and shops on Etsy by keyword searching things like knit bracelet or knit hat, and looking at both high end items and more run of the mill items.  My short list of findings were like this:

• Pictures matter. Well lit, modeled products with a variety of shots sell better than the product lain out flat. Especially for items that are meant to be worn.
• The more successsful shops have moved into selling both their products and patterns for some of their easier projects.
• If it looks easy enough that you are shocked that someone would buy it, then you are probably right. No one has bought it.

The clincher for a couple of these was a necklace made of loosely spun merino singles, wound together and tied.  It looked like something you could make with leftovers from a Malabrigo or Manos project.  Possibly attractive, but not something I would buy.  One very successful store that had a large number of hats modeled by a young, attractively made up woman.  Her looks were classic enough that people probably could see themselves in the products.  Her items all had 3 or 4 pictures showing different angles and options for wearing, and were all well lit and clean.

Finishing off last evenings blocking avoidance, I took a project I was working on a couple of years ago - the ascot I started out of Summer Tweed (a bad idea. I finished the project in the called for yarn) - and ripped it.  I then took the two balls of Summer Tweed and started something else.  Mostly doodling with the hands and needles during the football game.  I went to bed after the 3rd quarter, when I realized that my opponent could not beat me if his tight end was out of the game. 

I think I will be doing a lot more ripping in the next few weeks.  I have a pair of gloves that I never got past the wrist and a few other projects like that which would benefit from a bit of yarn reclamation.  I have even started pulling bits and pieces of saved stash and started giving them another going over (oh little half ball of tweed yarn... what was I going to make with you?).  It's pretty freeing going stash diving and WIP destroying.  Maybe I'll have a few less WIPs in my Ravelry by the end of the week!

selling hand knits

I have an etsy store.  I don't know what fit of genius made me sign up for it, but it has been almost two years and I still haven't done anything with it other than make a logo.  Go me for making a logo, but not nearly enough done.  My intent was to make little things to sell, so I could happily knit without it needing to be a sock pattern or a sweater. 

Of course, I don't have the foggiest idea about selling my hand knits.  I have tried in the past (and have tried selling jewelry and handmade candy) with mixed success.  I'm hoping that selling on Etsy is better than selling at a place like a church bazaar (random example, because I haven't tried selling at a church bazaar, but I have friends who have) because the buying population is more educated about the products.

For people who are already selling on Etsy, is that true?  Do you find that you have better sales or better customer interactions because you are dealing with other knitters, jewelers, craftspeople, etc. who know what goes into the products? 

Heck, what things do you know you could make but are either too boring or not boring enough to make?  Things you would rather buy than make yourself.  My brain pictures placemats when I write this, because after making a set of 4 cross-stitched placemats I'm not sure I could make myself do that again.

Of course, I have ideas for things to sell, but it is hard to know what kind of audience really uses Etsy.  My previous selling experiences have mostly involved complaints about materials used - mostly people who don't want to buy wool for any number of reasons (scratchy... umm, feel the malabrigo; hard to care for, etc.).

Maybe I will sell fantastical things.  More likely I will sell little dog and cat toys, hand woven scarves, pillows and other little things.  More research is needed.

not just socks

I really don't just knit socks, but it is hard to tell at times.  Currently I have a whopping 20 works not quite in progress, including a scarf that needs the ends woven in and a good blocking (actually make that 21, because I just finished the knitting for the Red Scarf project and never put it in Ravelry).  Only 3 of those projects are socks, so it is probably safest to say that I only really finish the sock projects.

So, here are the socks I finished a gazillion years ago (in September).

These are the Retro Rib socks from Favorite Socks, and I can see why they are popular.  Easy enough to work on in fits and starts, they make a great commuter sock pattern.  I've been wearing mine with the most business-like grey slacks I have, which makes them extra fun. 

One of the things I liked most about the cruise were the towel creatures.  So, here is the doggie from one of the last days posing with my wool socks.  Now, why, oh why, did I think it was a great idea to pack a pair of wool socks to a Caribbean cruise?  I'm not sure I could tell you know, but I have 3 socks, a sock book, and the yarn for both the matching sock (the Diamond Gansey socks I've been working on) and the fair isle socks.  It was a sock knitting extravaganza, but only in the early morning or late evening when I was tuckered out from all the sun.

Now, these socks are done and I've taken a little break from the fair isle socks (umm, I started a fair isle hat which is also not listed in my Ravelry queue), so what I'm working on most right now is Ishbel.  I started Ishbel when Ysolda came to Boston to sign her book at Windsor Button.  I bought the book, had her sign it, and bought yarn and cast on that night.  I knit through the stockinette and I started the lace.  Then I stopped cold, and I don't remember why.  There was nothing wrong with the project, but I just didn't keep going.  Go figure.

Now I'm about 20 rows from the end and I know I will need to buy more yarn, either a similar shade of the Malabrigo sock or a complementary color.  I don't know what I'm going to do yet, because I'm pretty sure I have enough to get through the last iteration of Chart A and possibly Chart C.  I would like to get that far, but worse comes to worse Windsor Button is just up the road.  They will have something that will work no matter which road I end up going down.

meeresrauschen (on vacation)

I don't have exciting photos very often, so please expect me to milk the vacation pictures All.Winter.Long.  I think that once you've seen a couple, you will find them a welcome treat when the middle of winter hits and all is grey and dreary.

I brought 3-4 skeins of yarn with me and one knitting book on this vacation, though I expected I was only going to work on the one project.  I took the early mornings and some of the later evenings and worked on the meeresrauschen socks.  My German is non-existent (unless it is schadenfreude or schmetterling, my few German words), so I will be calling these North Sea socks.

I got fairly far in these while I was on the cruise.  My little helper (the towel creatures were hilarious!) was Mr. Ogg Dogg, and he loved the knitting needles and card games.  He made a pretty decent model for these socks in progress, no?

Now, I finished the heel during the plane ride back and have pulled them on my foot only to stop at the area right before the heel.  Whoops.  My lack of swatching really cannot be forgiven, but I'm going to finish the pair and then give them away.

Anyone with size 6 feet (if you claim them early then you can tell me your foot length and they will fit both around and in length) can claim them.  And remember, claiming these allows you to think about the Carribean, where I knit part of these socks and think of fall in New England (where they spent the rest of their time).

The pattern has kept me fairly well entertained, so I will end up knitting a second pair.  I have an idea for brighter more enticing colors for the next pair and either a real swatch or at least upping the needle size to a 1 or a 1.5. 

Random photo:

It's huge, because I love it so.  And well, these are just a few of the blues my hair will be when I'm a retired old lady (30+ years down the road). 

i'm back!

Vacation is officially over.  Saturday was the travel day and the following two days were recovery from travel.

The travel day looked like this:
Boat to a bus to a plane to a plane to a bus to a subway to a cab.  Whew!  There were hours of layovers, which was handy for the knitting (I left the camera brain behind, so pictures tomorrow) even if it wasn't handy for the mounting sense of frustration of knowing that you could be home already!

I started the Meeresrauschen just before vacation, so I would be over the first hump of fair isle knitting by the time I got on the plane.  Surprisingly not bad for my first attempt, though I needed to untwist the yarn every row (I'm sure this speaks to my technique or lack thereof).  Of course, I am past the heel and have come to the conclusion that only a strict blocking can save me from a woeful sock failure.  Her 77 stitch sock with the needle size indicated has thus far produced a sock that does not go over my heel.  I am hoping that blocking will fix it, but if not hopefully there is some dainty creature out there with feet between a size 6 and a 7 (I'm a narrow footed 7.5) will offer to wear my first fair isle socks.  I'm going to finish them regardless of whether or not I can wear them.  I can always make another pair...  Oh horror, buying more sock yarn!

They will be thick and warm for the lucky devil (I'm hoping to have the first sock finished and blocked out this week), because frankly I'm not confident that stretching them out while under the influence of blocking will fix my fit issue.  People with more experience at fair isle, any tips so I can do a better job the next time?